Comparison of Lower Airway Sampling Strategies in Children with Protracted Bacterial Bronchitis (CLASSIC-PBB): a non-randomised, internally controlled, multicentre trial

Key Points

• To compare the efficacy of cough swab and induced sputum against bronchial lavage in children with protracted bacterial bronchitis.
• Conducted an internally controlled trial across multiple centers.
• Assessed pathogen yield from cough swabs, induced sputum, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).
• Evaluated tolerability and false negative rates of the sampling strategies.
• Cough swab and induced sputum showed high discordance with BAL.
• Induced sputum demonstrated a relatively low false negative rate.
• Induced sputum can serve as an early assessment tool for PBB in children.